Flangeway and rail guard for highway crossings of railroads



Feb. 21, 1928'. 1 ,659,730

. P. E. GERHARD FLANGEWAY AND RAIL GUARD FOR HIGHWAY CROSSINGS 0FRAILROADS Filed June 10, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Y ulElfierATTORN EY Feb. 21, 1928. 1,659,730

P. E. GERHARD FLANGEWAY AND RAIL GUARD FOR HIGHWAY CROSSINGS OFRAILROADS Filed June 10. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 21, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PAUL EUGENE GERHARD, OF LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO LEBANON STEELFOUNDRY, 0F LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYL- VANIA.

-IELANGEWAY AND RAIL GUARD FOR HIGHWAY CROSSINGS OF RAILROADS. 7

Application filed. June 10, 1927. Serial No. 197,774.

This invention relates to fiangeway and rail guards for highwaycrossings of railroads.

The objects of this invention are toproduce guard sections that may bemade of castings, forgings, pressed steel, stampings or from rolledsections and to devise them, as hereinafter described, for installationn highway crossings in such manner as to promote track safety and alsoto prevent d sruption of the guards and paving mater al by ,roadvehicles travelling transversely across the track rails and guards athighway crossings. 1

In the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof and illustrating theinvention,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a highway cross ing having an assemblage oftrack. rails, fiangeway guards, track rail guards and bracket braces, aportion of the pavlngmaterial being omitted for greater clearness.

Fig. 2 is a transversesection at l1ne 2-2 of Fig. 1 of'what is shown inFlg. 1, the paving material being partially shown in place.

Fig. 3 is an elongated elevation, partly n section, of the left hand endport on of Fig. 2 and shows a track rail between a flange way guardwhich is inwards of the track rail, and a track rail guard WlllClllSoutwards of thetrack rail, and portionsofthe bracket braces. v

Fig. 4 is an inward side elevation of a portion of an intermediatefiangeway guard section in endwise alignment and contact with an endsection; the view also showinga pair of tongues, one integral with theweb of each guard section, in assembla e with the arms of a cross-headedbracing diracket the neck of which is shown in section between opposededges of the tongues.

Fig. 5 is a typical perspective elevation of an intermediate guardsection, a therewith assembled end section, the tongues and thecross-headed bracing bracket; the lower end of the bracket being shownspiked to a crosstie.

In the drawings, A (Figs. 2 and 3) indicates the fiangeway guards andtheir safe location inwardly of, spaced apart from and out of metallic,electric current conducting relation to a track rail. In Figs. 2 andv 3,B indicates a similar location of a track rail ted ends.

guard, at the'outer side of each track rail. P indicates paving materialwhich is usually of some plastic material which has hardened or set inposition. Each fiangeway guard A and also each track rail guard B arepreferably made up of intermediate sections in joint forming contact attheir abut These intermediate sections are located between right andleft hand end sections.

The track rails 1 are shown mounted on rail plates .Zspiked tocrossties, in the form of. track rail supports shown. desired, practicalmeans of supporting the track rail may be used. 'The crossties ortrackrail supports are herein indicated by 3.

The lntermediate cross sections of the fiangeway guards and also of thetrack rail guards are indicated by 4; and theright and lefthand endsections of both the flangeway guards and of the track rail guards areindicated by 5. By making the end sections rights and lefts, they arereadily alignable with the intermediate sections.

I In some installations, though infrequently, asingle intermediatesection will be practicable; but as highway crossings over railways areusually of considerable width and the tendency is to increase theirwidths, it is generally desirable to use a plurality of ill-- termediatesections rather than one long intermediate section in each guard;intermediate sections of great length being diificult to handle.

Each flangeway guard A'is located inwardly of and spacedly apart fromthe inward side of atrack rail, there being two fiangeway guards foreach pair of track rails. A flangewayfi for the flanges of carand'locomotive wheels is thus obtained between adjacent, spaced apartsides of each track rail and the flangeway guard provided for it.

Each intermediatesection of a flangeway guard is formed with alengthwise extending head 6, an inward portion 'a of the head slantingupwardly and merging in a lengthwise extending, horizontal headextension (1' (Fig. 3) which projects inwardly of the web of thesection. The web terminates at its foot in a lengthwise extending,horizontal, inwardly extending base flange 7 provided with a row ofspike holes 8 for spikes Any other '9 by which the base flange isanchored to the track rail supports or crossties 3. The web is indicatedby 10. It slants upwardly in a direction away from the upper surface ofits base flange to the surface a; that is, in the direction of a side ofthe adjacent track rail. The head extension (1 and the base flange 7project in the same directions and the outward surface of the web, formsan obtuse angle with the upper surface of its base flange. The baseflange web and head are integral. Extension 11 is also a flange.

The track rail guards B are also made up of endwise aligned and abutted,intermediate sections located between therewith aligned, right and lefthand sections.

The intermediate sections of the flange way guard A in its entirety areidentical one with, another; the intermediatesections of the track railguard B in its entirety are identical one with another, and theintermediate sections of the flangeway and track rail guards areidentical one with another except for the heads of the track railintermediate sections which instead of having the flared or slantingsurface a between the web 10 and head extension at has only a horizontalextension 5, as shown at the left hand of Fig. 3.

The right and left hand end sections of the flaneeway guard A areidentical one with another, and the rightand left hand end sections ofthe track rail sections B are identical one with another. All the endsections are formed with the free end portions 11 of their headsslanting downwardly (Figs. 1, a and 5) and these'downwardly slantingportions 11 also flare laterally each in a direction away from theadjacent track rail side, as shown in- Fig. 1.

In View of these similarities, the webs of all the sections, bothintermediate and end, are indicated by 10, their base flanges by 7 andtheir heads by 6. The base flanges of the sections of the track railguard B are provided with fastener or spike receiving holes 8, similarlyto the base flanges of the flangeway guard sections, and are spiked tothe rail supports or crossties by spikes 9.

It is to be understood that the track rails are sometimes locateddirectly on the crossties without intervention of rail plates 2. It is afeature ofthis invention to locate all the sections of the flangewayguards and all the sections of the track rail guard out of metalliccontact with the track rails, and they are herein shown out of suchcontact for the important purpose of preventing short-circuiting ofrailway electric safety signal currents. The base flanges? are shown outof contact with the rail plates 2, being spaced apart therefrom and thesides of all the guard sections are spaced apart from and out of contactwith the track-rail and usual- 1y associated members, as sufficientlyillus trated in Fig. 8.

margins after the sections are rolled into the1r cross sectionalcontours. The bends of the tongues are indicated by 12 and the upperends of the tongues are indicated by 13. The tongues project awayfrom'the websides with which they are integral over the base flanges andform cross-head, arm" receiving spaces 14:. That vertical edge 15, ofpreferably each tongue which is adjacent an abuttable end of a guardsection, is reduced in width so that each tongue is narrower above itsbend than it is at its bend 12, (Fig. 4). The butt points formed betweenthe abutted, aligned ends of the sections are indicated by 16 and eachclear space 17 which is formed between the'opposed edges of each iiXgOadjacent tongues is in line with a joint bracket are positioned in eachclear space '14 between web ends and the opposed walls of upwardlyprojecting tongues (Fig. 5.), the cross-head spanning the adjacent joint16. The cross-head, between its ends, has an integrally projecting shank19 the neck portion rail support spacedly apart from the guard railsections opposed to the cross-head.

The tongues 11 are preferably somewhat longer than the verticaldimension of the cross-head arms 18 and so that in an installation thefree ends 13 of the tongues may be hammered over the upper surfaces ofthe cross-head arms and lock the cross-head detachably in place.

Due to the upward inclination of the web of each guard section, at eachside of a track rail, in the direction of the track rail; and

due to the described form and position of the bracket braces with theircross heads against the webs above the base flanges and with thedownward slant of the bracing bracket'shanks to their bases which areanunease chored to the erossties, a very powerful and durable bracingconstruction of the upstanding guard sections is effected. The practicalimportance or strong and durable bracing and construction of the guardsections. involves safety factors and the construction describedprevents accidental upward displacement of guard section ends one aboveanother. Such displacement or tendency to displacement is due tovibrations in the vertical direction of the track rails and movement oftrack rail supports often occurring in roadbed construction;

Under all circumstances, the fiangeway guards and track rail guards andalso the paving material are subject to thrusts and vibrations, shocksand strains by vehicles travelling over the crossings, crosswise of. therailway track and said guards. As shown in the upper portion of Fig. 1,the bracing brackets, tongues and base flanges of the fiangeway guardsare. covered by paving material P in which the bracket braces for thefiangeway guards, together with their horizontal bases are embedded andby which they are heavily loaded down in place. Similarly the projectingends of the erossties, base flanges of the track rail guards, tongues,cross-heads, and bracket braces for track guards, at each outer side ofthe track, when its fiangeway guards are covered, are protected andweighted down by the paving extending away from each side of the track.Other paving material is located in spaces 5? and 5, but at a levelbelow the rail head, as best seen in Figs. 2 and 3.

This application, in respect to certain claims, is a continuation inpart of my application Ser. No. 161,265, filed Jan. 15, 1927, on whichPatent No.'1,654,279, issued on October 11, 1927.

A function of the upwardly convergent webs of a flangeway guard and atrack rail guard, one at each side of a track rail, is to hold thepaving material at each side of the track rail firmly in place, thisbeing the more necessary because of the relatively narrow width of suchpaving material to the broader mass of pavlng material at the outersides of the track rail guards and between the fiangeway guards. Theclear space 5 formed before the paving is laid is customarily filledwith paving material up to the top of the track rail. T

The spaces between the tongues and the webs from which the tonguesspring form sockets in which the arms of the cross-headed bars arereceived. Such sockets have a horizontal extension in the direction of asection and are also open at their tops. As above indicated the guardsections may be formed by a rolling operation. i

My invention may be embodied in diflerent forms than those shown withoutdeparture from it.

' What I claim is:

1. A metal flangeway and track rail guard having a web and. a therewithintegral, horizontal base flange, an end of the web being formed with anintegral tongue projecting laterally away from the web.

2. A metal flangeway and track rail guard having a web and a therewithintegral, horizontal base flange, an end of the web being formed with anintegral tongue projecting laterally away from the web; the base flangeand tongue projecting from the same side of the web, the web extendingupwardly from the base-flange, the tongue extending upwardly from alower portion of the web and the side ofthe web from which the tongueprojects being at an obtuse angle to the upper side of the base flange.

3. A metal fiangeway and track rail guard having a web and a therewithintegral, horizontal base flange, an end of the web being formed with anintegral tongue projecting laterally away from the web; the base flangeand tongue projecting from the same side of the web, the web extendingupwardly from the base flange, the tongue extending upwardly from alower portion of the web and the side of the web from which the tongueprojects being at an obtuse angle to the upper side of the base flange;and the web having a head projecting from the side provided with thetongue.

l. The combination of track rail supports; a track rail; a flangewayguard spaced apart from said rail, out of electric current conductingrelation thereto and fixed to said supports; the fiangeway guardcomprising an intermediate section and right and left hand end sections,each section having a having their ends closely opposed and their websbeing separately formed with an upstanding tongue projecting from theside of the web from which the base flange projects, and the opposededges of the tongues being 'spaced' apart for connection with across-headed bracket neck; and a crossheaded bracket the arms of whichare located between said tongues and webs and the neck of: which extendsthrough the space between opposed tongue edges; the bracket shankextending downwardly beyond the base flange and having a base fixed to atrack rail support spacedly apart from said sections and out of electriccurrent conducting relation to said track rail.

5. The combination of track rail supports;

a track rail; a flangeway guard spaced apart tending web, said sectionsbeing aligned and having their ends closely opposed and thelr webs beingseparately formed with an upstanding tongue projecting from the side ofthe web from which the base flange projects, and the opposed edges ofthe tongues being spaced apart for connection with a crossheaded bracketneck; and a cross-headed bracket the arms of which are located betweensaid tongues and webs and the neck of which extends through the spacebetween opposed tongue edges; the bracket shank extending downwardlybeyond the base flange and having a base fixed to a track ra1l supportspacedly apart from said sections and out of electric current conductingrelation to said track rail; said tongue projecting above the upperedges of the bracket arms and being bent over such upper edges to anchorsaid arms in place.

6. The combination of track rail supports; a track rail; a flangewayguard spaced apart from said rail, out of electric current conductingrelation thereto and fixed to said supports; the flangeway guardcomprising an intermediate section and right and left hand end sections,each section having a horizontal base flange and an upwardly extendingWeb, said sections being aligned and having their ends closely opposedand their webs being severally formed with an upstanding ton 'ueprojecting from the side of the web from which the base flange projects,and the opposed edges of the tongues being spaced aparti'or connectionwith a crossheaded bracket neck; and a cross-headed bracket the arms ofwhich are'located between said tongues and webs and the neck of whichextends through the space between opposed tongue edges; the bracketshank extending downwardly beyond the base flange and having a basefixed to a track rail support spacedly apart from said sections and outof electric current conducting relation to said track rail; and at theoutward side 01' the track rail, a track rail guard of substantially thesame construction and in non-electric current conducting location assaid flangeway guard; and a cross-headed bracket of the constructionaforesaid, having its cross arms between tongues of its sections andtheir webs, the cross headed brackct being anchored to a track railsupport on the outward side of the track rail guard.

7. In the combination of claim 4, paving material between the flangewayguards, covering and embedding the base flanges of the fiangeway guards,said tongues and bracing brackets. v

8. In the combination of claim 5, paving material covering and embeddingthe base flanges of the track rail guards, their tongues and thetherewith connected bracing brackets.

9. In flangeway guard construction, the combination with a pair ofendwise aligned guard sections each of which is provided said bracehaving a free end fastenableto a railway track member.

10. The combination in a flangeway guard, of two endwise abuttingsections each having an upstanding web provided with an edge recess, therecesses facing one the other; and the adjacent end portions of thesections each having a lengthwise extending socket; and a bracket bracehaving a cross-head and a shank, the ends of the crosshead fitting insaid lengthwise extending sockets and an adjacent portion of the shankpassing through said opposed recessesv in the section webs; and meansfor anchoring the bracket to a stationary portion of the trackstructure.v

11. In metal flangeway and track rail guard construction,- thecombination of endwise alined and opposed guard sections each having anupwardly extending web and each web havinga tongue laterally projectingfrom a web side, the opposed edges of the tongues being spaced apart;with a crossheaded bracing bracket having arms located in the spacesbetween the tongues *and section webs; a neck portion of the bracketextending through the space between the tongue edges and'the brackethaving an end anchored to a railway track member.

12. In metal flangeway and track rail guard construction, thecombinationof endwise aligned and opposed guard sections each having an upwardlyextending web formed with endwise opposed, lengthwise 7 extending, endsocket forming walls each for reception of an arm of a cross-headedbracing bracket; with a cross bracing bracket the arms of which are heldby the socket forming walls, the bracket having aneck portion extendingbetween portions of said walls and downwardly to its under end; the

latter being anchored to a track member.

13. In metal flangeway and track rail guard construction, a lengthwiseand cross sectionally, rolled and shaped guard, having an integraltongue extending upwardly and laterally extruded from the web andforming the wall of a socket for reception of a bracing member. 7 1 r14. In metal flangeway and track rail guard construction, thecombination of a pair of approximately parallel, lengthwise extendingguards and a track rail, one guard being spaced apart from the inwardside of a track rail and the other guard being spaced apart from theother side of the track rail, each guard having an upwardly extendingweb and the webs converging upwardly in the direction of the head of thetrack rail; and paving material between each side of the track rail anda thereto opposed guard web.

15. In metal flangeway and track rail guard construction, thecombination of aligned guard sections the ends of which are to theother, a device constructed to inter- 16 lock with said socket walls.

16.'In metal flangeway and track rail guard construction, a guard memberformed with an opening in combination with a rigid device having aportion extending in the 5.

direction of the length of said member and in contact therewith, andanother portion through said opening and engaging a wall of saidopening.

Signed at Lebanon in the county of Lebat anon and State of Pennsylvaniathis 31st day of May A. D. 1927.

PAUL EUGENE GERHARD.

